The present invention relates to removable cleats for athletic shoes, in particular, removable cleats for golf shoes.
Athletic shoe cleats, in particular golf cleats, have been subject to changing designs in recent years, to attempt to provide users with a variety of advantages. For many years, a cleat took a simple form of a spike, usually made of metal, attached the bottom of a shoe. Because such spikes could damage non-athletic surfaces, and some athletic surfaces as well, variations have been made from the simple form. For example, UK Patent Application 2,098,457 to Perks, discloses surrounding a spike element of a cleat with soft material, to decrease damage done to surfaces. Other designs do not use metal spikes but rather projections of different shapes, typically made of plastic, to lessen damage to surfaces; an example can be seen in U.S. design patent D432,770 to Breault et al., which shows projections of different heights. Another design, which provides a directional golf cleat, is the CHAMP TRAC™ spike made by MacNeill Engineering Company, Inc.